A-Rod and the Yankees might give part of his disputed $6 million bonus to charity
A source told Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com the two sides are discussing a scenario in which they would "split the difference" and send the money to a charity of A-Rod's choice.
Presumably, this means the two sides would agree to a bonus of $3 million, which would then be sent to a charity.
When Rodriguez signed his 10-year, $275 million contract with the Yankees following the 2007 season, the two sides also agreed to a separate $30 million marketing agreement that would pay Rodriguez $6 million bonus each time he tied one of the players ahead of him on the career home run list and another $6 million bonus when he broke the all-time home run record.
A-Rod recently hit the first of those milestones with career home run No. 660, tying Willie Mays. Afterwards, general manager Brian Cashman argued that the Yankees were under no obligation to pay A-Rod since it was up to the team to decide if the milestone was marketable.
"We have the right not the obligation to do something," Cashman told the media at the time. "And that's it. It's not you do this, you get that." A-Rod refused to discuss the issue publicly, simply calling it "family business" and that he was focused on playing baseball.
It looked like the two sides were headed towards an arbitration hearing. Instead, the two sides may be close to a happy ending.
It is also the latest sign that we are dealing with a new A-Rod that seemed to emerge after he got some advice attorney Jim Sharp, a former member of the Navy JAG Corps, in 2014. Sharp told A-Rod, "You're ruining your life." At that point A-Rod decided to stop fighting MLB and now is back to being a productive baseball player.